Advice
by Standard-Ang3l
Summary: Nate is berating himself for not making a move on Ella. Caitlyn attempts to give him some advice. Natella and Jaitlyn.
1. Chapter 1

Second fic for Logan's birthday. There will be a second part to this. FYI.

Enjoy, Logan! Happy birthday and Happy Thanksgiving!

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><p>Nate sighed as he ran through his photos from this year's camp reunion for the third time in two hours. Ella was in nearly every single one. Looking gorgeous every single time.<p>

Could the week-long reunion have ended just five days ago?

"Dude. If you like Ella, go for it."

Nate glared at Caitlyn as she walked into the kitchen, reached into the fridge and poured herself a glass of milk before walking into the pantry and returning with a package of Oreos. She twisted a cookie and scraped the cream off with her teeth before dunking the cookie halves in her milk.

"Who says I like Ella?" he said.

"You've been staring at those pictures since we got back here last week. Jason and I both had bets going on when you were going to make a move."

"And how'd that turn out?" he asked icily.

"We both lost. So we agreed to do—"

"Before you answer, does this have anything to do with the edible body powder I found behind my Elvis Costello CDs on the shelf in the living room?"

Caitlyn smirked. "I was trying to find a secret place for it so Jason wouldn't find it. But no. This bet was about dinner for the other night."

Nate groaned. "Why do I live with you two?"

"Because you want to move to New York with _El-la_," Caitlyn said slowly.

"Shut up and tell me how you know I like Ella, Cait. Or I'll tell Jason where all of your secret stashes of _things_ are."

She rolled her eyes. "You're being a sap over her. Flipping through all those photos multiple times in a few hours. The way you stared at her all week long. I saw you sniff her. _Sniff her,_ Nate. Who does that besides creepers and people in love?"

"Speaking from personal experience?" Nate asked wryly.

"I sniffed Jason only during hugs. You sniffed Ella while sitting next to her at the campfire as she was talking to someone else."

"So basically, I'm acting like you did before you told Jason you liked him?"

"But creepier," she said, eating another Oreo. "I never did half the things you did. I just pined away for Jason and chased off all the other girls I perceived as a threat." She drained the glass of milk and wiped her mouth. "I have issues."

Nate rolled his eyes. "Obviously. You're dating my brother."

"Don't be rude to my girlfriend or I'll pass you off to Shane and Mitchie," Jason said as he walked in from the garage.

"I was not being rude to Caitlyn, Jason. I was being rude to _you_."

Jason rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Just make a move on Ella already. I'm tired of owing favors to Caitlyn."

"_Gross_, you guys. I already live with you. I don't need to become involved in conversations about the sickening things you do behind closed, but not locked, doors."

Jason flushed slightly and Caitlyn stood up on her tiptoes to kiss him on the cheek.

"Our house, our rules, Nater-Tot."

"_Our_ house?" Jason asked, wrapping his arms around her waist.

Caitlyn blushed. "We can discuss this upstairs. In the bedroom. Alone. While Nate sits here and calls Ella and tells her how he feels so I can cash in on that bet we made."

Nate glared at the pair and they ran up the stairs, giggling, slamming the door to the bedroom. Rolling his eyes, he went to his room and picked up his cell phone from his nightstand.

He stared at Ella's name on his contacts list before sighing heavily and tapping her name.

"Helloooo?" Ella said as she picked up the phone.

"Hey, Ells. Um, it's Nate."

"I know. Caller ID."

"Oh." He laughed nervously. "Right."

"So?" she asked. "Why'd you call?"

"Um…You know how a couple of years ago Caitlyn was all sappy over Jason and it was super weird because that goes against her typical personality?"

"Uh…yeah?"

"She was always staring at him and super-jealous of other girls and was all about platonic affection and was always roping him into photos?"

"I was there, Nate. I remember. I had to listen to her flip-flop over telling him all summer long."

He chuckled nervously. "Right. Um…the reason I'm talking about that is that…well…I've recently been acting like that. About you."

"Oh." There was silence on her end for a minute.

"Um, Ells? Could you…say something?" Nate begged.

"You're being _sappy_…over me?" she asked, the glee evident in her voice.

He sighed. "Yes. It's sort of disgusting. Caitlyn actually called me out on it just now."

"Just now?"

"Well, I had been looking through the photos from the reunion for about the third time that day. Photos the heavily featured you."

She laughed. "I was thinking you were taking more photos than normal."

"So…what do you think?"

"Of you being sappy?" She paused. "It's nice."

"That's all?" Nate asked. He slammed the heel of his hand against his forehead in frustration.

"I've been pretty sappy myself, lately."

He raised his eyebrows. "Oh?"

"Yeah. I noticed you sniffing me at the campfire and I kept waiting for you to do something all the rest of the week."

"_Shit_," Nate muttered.

"I thought it was sort of cute. If really, really creepy. I mean, once I realized it was you and not some Edward Cullen wannabe, I was okay with it. As long as it was followed by you asking me out."

"So…when I didn't…"

"Caitlyn offered to booby-trap your room in Jason's house. And sell your Elvis Costello CDs on some C3 fansite."

He sighed heavily. "Remind me to switch her hiding places for her things."

Ella giggled. "The ones she hides from Jason?"

"Yes, those."

"Poor, long-suffering Nater-Tot. What can I do to make it better?"

"Fly out to LA right now and go to dinner with me?"

She laughed. "No can do, Nate. I have that internship starting in a week and I need to take of some things around here before that. Plus I can't exactly afford air travel. Can we have a webcam date though? Each get something from the same restaurant and sit and talk in front of our computers?"

"Smashburger?" Nate asked.

"Sounds good. See you in an hour?" she asked.


	2. Chapter 2

So, angellwings finished her epic Natella story, "Go Figure" like, half an hour ago. She's been working on the thing FOREVER. I figure, why not post this conclusion to her birthday story as a reward for her. She deserves it after all. :D

I've been having all sorts of computer issues lately and I'm trying to get things back to normal. So, while I have lots of fic written, it might not get posted too terribly quickly. I apologize for that. In the mean time, read this. Then go read "Go Figure" if you haven't already. Because you should!

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><p>"Hey, Caitlyn?" Nate asked, looking up from his guitar.<p>

"Yes, Nater-Tot?" she asked, setting down the tongs she was using to turn the chicken legs she was cooking.

"When you and Jason started dating, it was long-distance, right?"

Caitlyn nodded and checked the temperature of the chicken. Still not done. "Essentially. I mean, I let him know I was into him before we left camp, so we were able to get comfortable with each other in a romantic sense, even if it was only for about a week. It was sort of awkward to go from long-distance to being together constantly; we sort of reverted back to a platonic relationship because we had just gotten so used to the lack of physical contact."

"Didn't take you two that long to fix that," Nate grumbled.

"Jason's very good at initiating physical contact. I'm good at continuing it."

He rolled his eyes. "Can we bring this back to me, though?" he asked. "Ella's arriving in a couple of hours and I don't know what to do."

Caitlyn shook her head and turned the chicken again, adding a little more oil and salt to the pan. "Just…be yourself. Don't force anything. Give her a hug when you see her, but don't go beyond that until you're alone. Because you do not need to have tabloids pick that up when you're not even an official couple."

"We are an official couple."

She rolled her eyes. "No, you're not. You've never kissed her. You've never been on an actual date with her. You and her spend hours on webcam, chatting about everything and eating food and—"

"Okay, okay. I get it."

Caitlyn smiled and placed a drumstick on a plate with some rehated rice and broccoli. "You'll do fine. Trust me. If you want, I'll even text Ella throughout the night and text you afterwards. Like your go-between." She took a big bite of chicken. "You want shome uf thish?" she asked, waving the leg at him.

He shook his head. "Nah. You don't need to go that far. It feels too secret agent-y. Also, no. No chicken. I saw how much garlic you put in there."

Caitlyn laughed. "Garlic's an aphrodisiac."

"I swear I will tell Jason that your collection of edible body things is now hidden under the loose floorboard in the hallway closet if you don't shut up."

"Do you just like, go looking for my private, personal items? This isn't your house, need I remind you. Also, I was just stating a fact. Garlic's an aphrodisiac. Get over it."

"I am moving out. Tonight. To a hotel room," he growled.

"With _El-la_?"

"I'm choosing not to answer that." He got up from the kitchen table, gathering his sheet music and putting it in a folder.

"Do you want to borrow anything of mine for tonight? I know you know where it all is."

"Caitlyn…" Nate said.

She leaned forward on one arm and grinned. "Yes?"

"Go…find Jason and…put that garlic to use. I'm going to go buy flowers."

"I don't need your permission to do things to your brother."

"Caitlyn, shut up. Please."

"Nope. I refuse."

"For the love of god, I just want to be able to think."

"I'll tell Jason you told me to shut up again. You know he doesn't like it when you do that."

"Stop trying to blackmail me! He's my brother."

Caitlyn smirked and shook the remains of the chicken leg at him. "But I'm sleeping with him. And things that happen between the sheets are far more sacred than the bonds between the brothers."

"Gross. I think I just threw up a little, actually. Now I need to go brush my teeth again."

"Yeah, you can't greet your virtual girlfriend with vomit-breath!" she yelled after him as he went to his bathroom.

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><p>Nate inhaled and exhaled slowly as he caught sight of Ella coming down the escalator to baggage claim. She was so cute. Had she always been this cute? She was the only girl he knew that could make a Barbie shirt look grown-up and elegant.<p>

"Hey there," she said with a soft smile as she stopped in front of him.

"Hi. Hey. Hello. Um...Caitlyn told me not to kiss you in public. I mean, not yet. Just because we've only been on virtual dates. Literally."

Ella giggled and reached for his hand, giving it a squeeze. "Did Caitlyn give you any other suggestions?"

"She tried," Nate said shortly.

Ella, still holding onto his hand, made her way over to the baggage carousel and studied his expression. "I take it you thought they were inappropriate suggestions?" she asked.

"It's Caitlyn," Nate said.

"You probably provoked her, though," she said, picking up a pink rolling bag.

"Not...really..." he said, holding out his hand for her messenger bag.

"Nathaniel," Ella said.

"I made an observation about her and Jason's mating-I mean dating habits and then she was all "Jason and sex and edible body paints". It was totally unwarranted." He led her out the door to the parking garage and to his car.

"Well, to be fair, mating and dating are pretty much synonymous with those two," Ella said as she pushed the handle of her bag down and handed it to Nate to put in the trunk. "But your comment was probably rude as well."

Nate opened his mouth to respond but closed it when he didn't have a comeback. "Fine. Do you want to go to their house or eat first?"

"House, please," Ella said with a sigh. "This outfit reeks." She got in the car and grinned. "You don't mind, do you?"

"Caitlyn should have gone to the dog groomer by now, so we'll be spared any...advice she may dispense otherwise."

Ella giggled. "She's totally your best friend, isn't she?"

"Don't tell her that. She'll get a big head."

"She is? I was just joking!" Ella exclaimed with wide eyes.

Nate winced. "Shit."

Ella started laughing uncontrollably. "I swear, I won't. It's just so funny, though."

Nate rolled his eyes. "Yeah, it's hilarious." He pulled up to the kiosk and handed the teller the five dollar parking fee.

Ella grabbed his hand and smiled at him reassuringly. "I won't tell her, Nate. Pinky swear."

"Between you and Jason, I don't even know..." he muttered.

Ella rolled her eyes and quickly leaned forward, pressing a short kiss to his lips before pulling back and smiling at him.

He grinned and leaned towards her, but a short honk from the car behind him startled the pair and he growled softly as he exited the parking garage.

"I hope Caitlyn's at the groomer for a long time," he said, glancing over at Ella. "I don't want any more interruptions."

"I can text her and tell her to not come home for a while."

"Good. Do that," he said with a smirk.


End file.
